gaming Why I hate Majora's Mask

[Sly 236]

Hi guys, today I want to discuss about why I hate one of the most beloved games of the Zelda franchise: Majora's Mask. There are so many good things about this game, and under certain points of view, it's even better than its predecessor, Ocarina of Time.... but why I hate it so much? For the same reason I hate the Souls games: Anxiety. As someone who constantly suffers of anxiety, I can't stand games who puts a lot of pressure on you to go onward with them (man, I had so much anxiety during my universitary exams, all I need is having anxiety while I play videogames...).

 

If the Souls games give me anxiety for their extreme difficulty, as a single mistake could screw up even a full hour of gameplay making it completely pointless, with Majora's Mask what gives me anxiety is.... that fu***ng timer... yeah, I don't know who conceived this system but, you've only three days (which are about a full hour of gameplay in real world) to save the day or the Moon destroys Termina. During your adventure however, you have the Ocarina of Time already seen in the previous game, with which once you play the Song of Time (introduced in the previous game as well) let you go back at the Dawn of the first of the three days. Where's the problem? Simple: every time you use it to return at the dawn of the first day you also save the progresses of your game but you also...... lose all your money and all the ammos of the various weapons you got...... WHAT?! ARE YOU FU***NG KIDDING ME?! SO EVERYTIME I SAVE, I HAVE TO PASS LIKE HALF OF THE TIME I'VE UNTIL I SAVE AGAIN TO REFILL ALL MY MONEY AND ALL MY ITEMSBY CUTTING HUNDREDS OF GRASS BUSHES? HOW THE HELL I'M SUPPOSED TO PROCEED IN THE ADVENTURE IF I'VE TO PASS MOST OF THE TIME DOING THAT?! WHO THE HELL CONCIEVED A GAMEPLAY SYSTEM LIKE THIS?! Not only this makes me playing this game in a constant of anxiety, but also makes it BORING.

 

Ah... maybe I just use the wrong approach with this game, but really this timer system killed it to me... Am I the only one who got this feeling about this game? Or do you think I might missing something?

[Stone Cold Steve Jobs 22,410]

I disagree with your opinions on the timer. I personally love it, because it gives this sense of danger and pressure, but i can see where that may be an issue too. I mean, look at the moon in that game. As for ammo and money, none of that is hard to come by, at least in the original version. You can find a free 100 rupees in east clock town every time you reset.

 

The story is phenomenal, but I agree that the save system is a lost cause. It's horrendous and just feels like they tried to fix it with owl statues, but gave up.

[strongwilled_pegasus 5,152]

I'm going to assume you beat this game at least several times over by now. as far as the counter goes, if your not used to it (or still aren't)

the one way I think you can cut down would be to avoid exploration and stay to the main area (I know, I know RPG's are all about exploring) so me suggesting that you cut down on exploring is blasphemy.

 

I can relate in part because as a PS2 owner I have breath of Fire and that also has a timer

[KirbyFluttershy 2,517]

As a LoZ fan who played the game, I disagree on the timer. That's what reverse song of time is for. You have to plan carefully what you do and you have to deposit all of your money before using the song of time and The supplies will have to go. The 3DS version, you can save where the owl statues at without using the song of time, but the boss fights are a lot trickier than the N64 version although there were some changes in the 3DS version compared to the N64 version. Moneymaking is easy though so apparently you can just get the rupees from the chest inside the town.

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

The Inverted Song of Time slows time down by one third giving players more time with which to go through and get as much done as possible during the hour long cycle--the seventy-two hour time limit in the game is roughly an hour in real time. Also, money isn't an issue in this game as all the chests go back to their unopened state upon resetting time so you can easily grind without any difficulty. I do suggest playing the remake on the 3DS. It fixes a number of problems that plagued the original including the convoluted save feature.

[AaronMk 280]

This thread is written by someone who hasn't realized yet you can use the Ocarina to slow down time and get yourself like, an hour a day. It's a life-saver really.

 

Also I don't know if this guy ever discovered the bank. The banker'll hold all the money you deposit regardless of time anomalies. Of course he also stamps your balance on your forehead each time, but whatever.

[Hocus Pocus 636]

The tedium of the game to me is what makes it great... It is not supposed to be fun, it is supposed to be oppressive, with hopeless and inevitable death always looming.

 

It's kinda like Darkest Dungeon in a way. The whole game is very "two steps forwards,one step back" until you can finally beat it. And I can't tell you why I enjoy such macabre settings so much, constantly reminding you of life's frailty, assaulting you from every angle with hopelessness, reminding you with game mechanics designed to be unfair that when push comes to shove, there are too many things in life that you have little to absolutely no control over. Maybe I'm just depressed and I feel that on some level or another, the game "gets" me by bringing up these dark topics, by ripping you out of the glorified hero role and putting you in the role of a normal person experiencing tragedy, because sometimes that's what life is: a tragedy... Or maybe I'm just a little bit screwy and need to get to bed

 

That being said, it is completely logical to call a game that is not supposed to be fun bad, so I can totally understand your point of view

 

(Also, on the note of the inverted song of time, its usefulness depends on what version of the game you're playing, as it doesn't slow time nearly as much on the 3DS and may actually cause you to time-out in the middle of a dungeon unless you're already familiar with it, especially if you're trying to hunt the fairies along the way in the later dungeons like the water temple or stone tower temple... But hey, at least you can pick the exact hour you want to skip to with the song of double-time, right?)

Edited November 25, 2016 by Hocus Pocus

[Ziggy + Angel + Rain 11,298]

It's been years since I played through Majora's Mask, but I remember enjoying the game in spite of its feeling like the Zelda version of Groundhog Day.  I do prefer Ocarina of Time, but MM is the more challenging and complex title.  I'd think that just about everyone who's picked up OoT has eventually beaten it; my brother and I raced each other to the end of MM on our respective game saves.  It was fun.  That being said: I'd still rather pick up Ocarina for the fourth or so time than play back through Labia Majora.  I beat the game on the Nintendo 64, and I've always been satisfied with that.

[Shift 4,269]

On the timer, the Song of Reverse Time (play the Song of Time backwards) halves the time of the 3 days, which made it rather easy to do everything you need to do in a cycle. Song of Soaring allows you to get to all the places you need in that cycle quickly, notebook in the remake keeps track of everyone's schedule so you'll only need guides for like, Anju and Kafeki, and the Song of Double Time gets you to those times quicker. The only time you'll feel threatened by the timer is likely during the Great Bay Temple.

For the 'losing your money' issue, there's a bank where you can deposit your money so it stays next cycle. As for ammo, it's generally easy to come by and arrows are pretty cheap. The only thing money-wise i'm ever worried about was buying mana potions each cycle, which aren't all too expensive anyway.

 

I personally loved the timer system. The ways they set it up allowed for each day to feel like an actual, real day - shops were closed on different days, people got progressively more scared as the third day approached, different events and such happened on each day, etc. Clock Town felt so alive, because everybody seemed to be going about their lives as if it was an actual town - you could see the construction work being done (and watch it be finished), you could talk to npcs each day and watch their mental state change (personal favorite is visiting the "fearless" dojo mentor in Clock Town about an hour before impact), go to a band that is only coming on a certain day, fend off an alien invasion before they mindfuck Romani and thus you can do different events on the farm for the next two days... I adore the system and I still do today. The game isn't supposed to feel like Ocarina - a cheery, free, adventurous game. It's supposed to feel macabre, hopeless, and claustrophobic. The timer is probably the biggest reason why it has such a dark atmosphere - it's supposed to make you stressed and hopeless at times, and that's why I love it. Easily my favorite Zelda game.

 

Also as for the Souls series - "single mistake screwing up an hour of progress" - i don't really think so. I've played through both Bloodborne and DS3, and they gave you checkpoints generally near each other, and easy to memorize attack patterns/routes so dying once or twice wasn't a big deal. I can understand being anxious about getting your Souls/Blood Echoes back, but in BB I can get about 300k in 15 minutes with chalices and in DS3 there are multiple grinding spots. Can't say anything for DS1 though.

Edited November 25, 2016 by Shift